Alison Hernandez: Someone should be held responsible for Keyham failings.... but not me

Devon and Cornwall's Police and Crime Commissioner has said that someone should be held responsible for the catastrophic failings that led to the Keyham shootings... but it's not her.

There have been calls for the resignation of Alison Hernandez following the inquest jury's findings that systemic failings within Devon and Cornwall Police led to Jake Davison being granted a licence for a shotgun and being given his gun back.

Talking to ITV News West Country, Mrs Hernandez said: "Fundamentally I don't see the day-to-day operational policing of Devon and Cornwall. One of the things for me is that I hold them to account for an efficient and effective police force."

The inquest jury found catastrophic failures in management, inadequate and ineffective leadership, glaring errors in policing that led to Jake Davison being granted a gun licence and then being handed his gun back, allowing him to go on and shoot dead five innocent people.

But Mrs Hernandez said the responsibility for that does not lay at her door.

“Unfortunately for this incident it does fall to the chief constable for the operational leadership," she said.

"I am really pleased we have a new chief constable and that leadership is strong and I have every confidence that now, moving forward, not just in the firearms licensing department, but for the whole organisation we will see an improvement.

Asked whether that means the leadership, under her control, wasn’t strong before, Mrs Hernandez said: “The thing is I didn’t have sight of the issues that have been identified, I do not run a department in Devon and Cornwall Police.

"I am only as good in my role as some of the information that the chief constable is willing to share with me, and at no point was it highlighted in either the strategic risk register or in any conversations that we had, that there was a problem in that department."

So far only low ranking officers and police staff have been subject to misconduct investigations within the police.

The police and crime commissioner said that is not good enough.

“The most junior members of staff in that department are the ones that have been targeted, I am really uncomfortable with that and the inquest has exposed that it is not just those individuals that should be looked at," she said.

"I’ve had this conversation with the chief constable about what next, what’s the next thing about accountability within the force, so I am awaiting to hear from him what are those next steps."

Winning back public confidence in Devon and Cornwall Police is likely to be a difficult task for the police and crime commissioner after the revelations of the last few weeks.

However, Mrs Hernandez is determined it is still her job to do, despite the calls for her resignation.